St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-11-19

of his children. John Milton knew
everything but how to train his family.
Severe and unreasonable was he in his
carriage toward them. He made them
read to him in four or i've languages,
but would not allow them to learn any
of them, for he said that one tongue was
enough for one woman. Their reading
was mechanical drudgery, when, If
they had understood the languages
they read, the employment of read
ing might have been a luXury.& No
wonder his children despised him, and
stealthllv sold his books, and hoped for
his death. In all ages there has been
need of society for prevention of cruelty
to children. When Barbara was put to
! death by her father because she had
cOuntermanded his order, and had three
windows put in a room instead of two,
! this cruel parent was type of many
| who have acted the Nero and the
| RObespierre in the home circle. The
| heart sickens at what you some
times see, even in families that pre-
tend to be Neutrality-suspicious. scold-
ing, and hair-pulling, and ear-boN-
! ing, and humping, and stamping, and
| fault-tindng, and teasing, until the chill
/ dren are vcXed beyond bounds and
| growl in the sleeve, and pout, and re-
/ bel. and vow within themselves that in
after days they will retaliate for the cru
elites practiced. Many home has be
! come as full Of dispute as was the home
of John O'GrOat, who built his house
at the most northcrlv point in Great
| Britain. And tradition says that the
house had eight windows, and eight
doors, and a table Of eight sides, because
he had eight children, and the only way
to keep them out of bitter quarrel was
to have separate apartment for each
one Of them.
That child's nature is too delicate to be
worked upon by sledge hammer, and
gOuge, and piledriver. Such fierce lash
ing, instead of breaking the high mettle
to bit and trace, will make it dash off
the more uncomfortable. Many seem to
think that children are tiaX-not fit for
use till they have been hetcheled and
swingled. Some one talking to a child
said Il wonder what makes that tree
out there so crooked" The child re-
piled: Il suppose it was trod on while it
was young" In some families all
the discipline is concentrated upon
one child's head. If anything is
done wrong, the suppoSition is
that George did it. He broke the
latch. He left open the gate He hacked
the banisters. He whitfield sticks on
the carpets. And George shall he the
scapegOat for all domestic misunder-
standings and suspicious. If things get
wrong in the culinary department, in
comes the mother and says, angrilv:
"Where is George:' If business matters
are perpleXing at the store, in comes the
fathers at night and says, angrily: "W here
IS GeOrge:' In many a household there
is such one singled out for suspicion
and castigatiOn. All the sweet flowers
of his soul blasted under this perpetual
northeast storm, he curses the day in
which he was born. Safer the child
in an ark of buIrushes on the
Nile, among crocOdileS than in
an elegant mansion, amid such do
mestic gorgons. A mother was passing
along the street one day and came up to
her little child, who did not see her APP
proach, and her child was saving to her
playmate, You good-for-nothing little
scamp, you come right into the house this
minute or | will beat you till the skin
comes Off The mother broke in say
ing, why, Lizzie, | am surprised to hear
you talk like that to any one ~ oh"
said the child, Il was only playing, and
he is my little boy, and | am scolding
him, as you did me this morning. Chill
dren are apt to be echoes of their par
ents.
second error prevalent in the train
ing OF children is laying out of a theory
and following it without arranging it to
varieties of disposition. In every family
you will find striking differences of tenn
permanent. This child is too timid, and
that too bold, and this too misery, and
that too wasteful; this too inactive, and
that too boisterous. Now, the farmer
who should plant corn and wheat and
turnlps in just the same way, then put
them through one hopper and grind them
in the same mill, would not be so
much of fool as the parents who
should attempt to discipline and
educate all their children in the same
manner. 1t needs skillful hand to adj
just these checks and balances The |
rigidity of government which is neces-
sary to hold in this impetuous nature |
would utterly crush that flexible DISPOSE |
ton, while the gentle reproof that would |
suffice for the latter would, when used |
on the former, be like attempting to
hold champing Bucephalus with reins
of gossamer. God gives US in the dispo-
ton of each child hint as to how we
ought to train him, and, as God in the
mental structure of our children indi-
Gates what mode of training is the best.
He also indicates in the disposition
their future occupation. Do not write
down that child as dull because it may
not now be as brilliant as your other
children or as those of your neighbor.
Some of the mightiest men and women of
the centuries had a stupid childhood.
Thomas Aquinas was called at school "the
dumb OK" but afterward demonstrated
his sanctified genius and was called 1.-The
angel of the schools and the eagle of
Brittany" Kindness and patience with
a child will conquer almost anything,
and they are virtues so Christlike that
they are inspiring to look at. John Wes
leys kiss of a child on the pulpit stairs
turned Matthias Joyce from profigate
into flaming evangel.
The third error prevalent in the train
ing of children is the one-sided develop
ment of either the physical, intellectual
or moral nature at the expense of the
others. Those, for instance, greatly mis-
take who, while they are faithful in the
intellectual and moral culture of chill
dren, forget the physical. The bright